Built in 1933, this was the smallest of
thirteen incinerators in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia
designed by
Walter Burley Griffin, designer of Canberra, and his partner Eric
Nicholls. Others included those at Pyrmont (now
demolished) and Willoughby. Prior to building the incinerator, Glebe
Council used to load garbage onto barges at the Council
depot in Forsyth Street, tow it 10 kilometres out to sea and dump it: this
resulted in beaches being polluted by refuse
carried in by the currents. Griffin and Nicholls promoted their
incinerators as hygienic, efficient and aesthetically pleasing.
Now only the shell of the incinerator remains, incorporated into the
redevelopment of foreshore industrial land for housing.
The City of Sydney’s 2004 Glebe Foreshore Plan also provides for its
restoration.